A French Man and the Fall of a Comrade
by Nic an Ri
Summary: This story is based during the war with mevolent.It follows the dead men as they under go a top secret mission, but will they fall at the last hurdle? More importantly will all of them make it back alive? Rated K for voilence.
1. The Exam

**Hey ;)**

**This chapter is just an intro to the characters and stuff, setting the scene and what not. I only own the characters of; Josaphine Linn, General Joaux, Sargent Withers and Sargent Bullbarry. The rest of them belong to the most amazing Golden God Derek Landy!**

**Its my first story so please enjoy! :D**

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I run through the deserted town, the ruins of the small Irish village standing out strongly against the rising sun. The worn walls charred from where Mevolent's men had burned down houses killing the men women and children who escaped the inferno. Now I stick to the same walls using their shadow from the rising sun as cover. I glance upwards and find an archer crouched on a singed thatched roof. Before he has time to react I shoot one of my own arrows his way. It flies through the air and finds its mark, hitting the archer below the chin where his armour fails to protect his neck. Of course this is an exam and my arrows have been made safe but I still hear a gagging noise come from the soldier as the arrow connected with his Adams apple. With this being my final cadet exam many fellow soldiers dress in black and pretend to be Mevolent's men. My objective is to get to the other side of this village safely and within the time limit. Fail to make it there 'alive' or in time you fail the exam and have to repeat the 18 months of cadet training. Failing is not an option for me.

I press on through the village, as I turn onto what is left of the main street I am faced with 15 men dressed in black marching my way, bows and swords at the ready. I retreat quietly and back into a door way to wait for them to pass. Someone grabs me from behind, their black gloved hands hold onto me tightly. I knock my head backwards and my skull connects with his nose. When I stomp my boot onto his foot and stabbed his ribs with my elbow, he grunts and I wonder how many of my fellow comrades he's attacked this morning. With my other hand I spread my fingers and feel the slight buzz from my magic. I channel the magic and press my hand against the man's leg sending a bolt of electricity through his thigh. His grip on me loosens and I twist away from him whipping out a wooden knife from my belt. I haven't been armed with real weapons. All I have is a bow and several safety arrows, a long wooden sword, a stick of dynamite- which is really a piece of wood painted red- and the small wooden knife that I now hold up to the man in black's neck. He nods and makes a motion to indicate that I have killed him sufficiently. He slumps in the doorway he'll wait there 'dead' until I'm finished the exam. I looked up and down the street to make sure my scuffle in the doorway has gone unnoticed.

Heading back the way I had come I glance at my watch. From what I can tell I have three minutes to complete my exam. I curse under my breath dismissing the fact that my choice of words are un-lady like.

Turning another corner I completely lose my bearings, now I am lost in a maze of narrow alleys. What makes it worse is the sickening feeling that I'm being surrounded. I was right, I am surrounded. I find this out when I finally break out of the alleys and into a wide street. Terrace houses lie on either side of the street they only break at the alley which I've just come out of. Coming down the street in both directions are three rows of men, all dressed in black and they're all armed. I don't get much of a chance to decide what to do next before an arrow zooms past my face. I dive back into the alley. Damn. They'll be on me in no time and what will I do then? I don't have enough arrows to shoot that amount of men and there isn't enough space to swing my sword. I begin to panic, I can't fail this exam. I check my watch again, only two minutes left.

I swiftly climb the side of what used to be a shop building. I scramble onto the roof. Looking around I see the finish line. A single green flag flaps in the wind, underneath the flag three officers stand taking notes on clipboards and discussing my performance. They don't think I can pass just because I'm a girl. Well I am about to be the first woman in history to join the white mages army because now I have a plan.

The men have all started to pile into the alley. I wait until they are below me then I take out the stick of dynamite. I throw it down onto of the men and run as fast as I can towards the finish line. I don't bother to check for survivors of my pretend explosion. I run straight to the finish line without looking back. I reach the green flag panting the sprint from the shop to the finish was at least five hundred meters. I check my watch; I've finished with forty seconds spare. I look up at the three men. Commander withers is a tall well built man who looks like he's taken too much from the cook's store. His face is red and full of puss filled pimples. His small beady grey eyes are nearly hidden by his lumpy features. Standing next to him is sergeant Bullbarry; he is a quiet man, scrawny but from what I hear is a very powerful mage. I don't know much about him other than he fought off fifteen of Movelents men single handed. For that alone I respect him even if he isn't the kindest of gentlemen.

Standing to the left of withers stands one of my favourite sergeants of all, Corrival Deuce. He is friendly, supportive and encouraging even though he can be grumpy at times. He's taught me everything I know. Despite me being a girl he still treats me with utmost respect and stands up for me when most people refuse to accept me into the army. He got me a place in cadet training and I owe it to him to pass the exam and to prove that I am worth the risk. I look at the expression on his face. His wise eyes are trying to tell me something he can't say out loud. His body language puzzles me. He should be happy for me, standing tall and beaming with pride, but instead he stands back drawn into himself. Deuce doesn't seem disappointed he seems angry. The more I look at him the more I see that he's fuming.

'Sir?' I ask not sure on what to say. None of the men have spoken since I ran over the finish line. 'You have not completed your exam Cadet Linn' Bullbarry says in his low monotone voice. What does he mean? I aced the exam I was in the time limit and am uninjured. What more could I possibly do? I look to deuce for an answer but he won't meet my eye. 'Pardon me sergeant, but I don't understand. I am uninjured and I made it to the finish within the time limit. I completed the objective,' I say barely able to stop my voice from shaking. This can't be happening to me I've worked too hard for this.

Sergeant Bullbarry doesn't reply.

'What?' I exclaim 'What more do I have to do to pass? Tell me and I'll do it,' my panic mixes with anger I now know why Deuce is angry the men won't pass me on the basis that I am a woman. No one moves or offers me an answer. Withers just smiles enjoying putting me through this.

'Josephine!' my name rings through the town. I whip my head around searching for the caller. 'Jo, help me!' Skulduggery Pleasant's velvet voice roars into the morning air.

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**So. . . Did you like it? i'll update asap! Please review and tell me what you think. Sorry for any mistakes :)**


	2. Making History

This is all wrong. The exams are done individually Skulduggery shouldn't even be here. Sergeant Withers chuckles at my confusion. I fight down the urge to hit him. Oh I want to hit him so hard so that his children will feel it and their children after that.

'You wouldn't want to leave a fallen comrade behind, would you cadet?' he says with a filthy smirk. 'You have sixty seconds' he adds as I run back towards Skulduggery's voice.

Sixty seconds? No way I can find my friend, assess the situation and carry him back to the finish in sixty seconds.

My feet hit the ground hard as I run full pelt through the town calling to Skulduggery as I go. I'm getting close to him I can tell; his ego is so big I can sense it from here. I find him sure enough slumped in an old burnt down bakery. 'Top of the mornin' to ya,' he says pulling of a slick Kerry accent even though he is originally from Wicklow. He smiles and his green eyes sparkle from above his high set cheek bones. I scowl not in the mood for his jokes and good humour. 'They told me to tell you that my legs are broken and I can't walk,' Skulduggery says to me picking up that there's something wrong he adds 'What's happened?'

I don't have enough time to reply, I don't have enough time for anything! I shake my head in frustration the seconds slip by. Skulduggery keeps at me trying to find out what is wrong. I'm not listening to him anymore. Finally I come up with a plan; I drag skulduggery out on to the street, I check the sky above me before pressing my index and pinkie finger against my tongue and letting out a long whistle. I tie Skulduggery's wrists together with a piece of string, and then I put my arm between his arms and shove my other shoulder under his stomach so that I can lift him. I grunt under his weight. He is very tall and heavy for his skinny build. I'm up and running before my whistle is answered.

He appears in the sky above us his huge wings shading me from the sun. As he glides above the winged horse looks down and says "you need a hoof?" then he laughs in a high pitched whiney way. Great the winged horse's sense of humour his worse than Skulduggery's. "Sorry I'm only horsing around!" he whines again. I call up to him and he lands beside me gracefully trotting alongside to keep up. As we run I throw Skulduggery on the horses back. The horse breaks into a canter and I take a run and jump and land on the horses back between his wings and Skulduggery. "I need you to fly as fast as you can towards the green flag!" I yell in the stallion's ear, knowing I have bare seconds to cross the finish. "Hold on" he replies as we lift of the ground. The winged horses or _capail __sciathán_ are the fasted mammals alive. The horses fly at break neck speeds and are the fasted way to get around, if you're lucky enough to catch a ride. These horses are very secretive and you must earn their trust before they will let you on their backs. I've know this horse almost ten years, and he still hasn't given me his name. When a _capail sciathán _gives their name to a rider the two become bonded, a magical mental bond is formed and both horse and rider become one.

Now we're flying fast back the way I came. The houses blur below us. Arrows and fire balls hurl past us missing my head by inches. "They're firing at us from below" I shout to the horse, "take us up, higher! We need to go higher!" I order. He takes us above the cloud line and I can't tell where we are. Suddenly the horse nose dives, folding his wings behind me, hurtling towards the ground. The wind is deafening in my ears and it stings my eyes. The horse pulls up at the last moment and I realise we have landed right beside the green flag. I jump off his back; my legs are shaking as I lift Skulduggery down. He looks a bit shaky Skulduggery has always said he prefers cars but in the late 1700's there aren't many cars to be had in Ireland. I turn around and look into the shocked faces of the three sergeants before me.

"Exam completed, with zero point four seconds on the clock" Bullbarry whispers. And finally I allow myself to smile in triumph.

Now I'm standing beside the stallion, rubbing my fingers in circular movements on his temples whispering my thanks in his ear constantly. The three sergeants are standing a couple of yards away arguing in hushed tones. "You're in" Skulduggery says interrupting my train of thought. I just look at him "Bullbarry is on your side, he thinks you are well capable to take the role of officer, that's two against one" Skulduggery smiles widely. "Of course I aced the exam I found it breezy"

There it is Skulduggery's single minded cocky ego summed up in one word "Breezy". He found everything breezy. He never seemed to see the dangerous, serious or potentially fatal side of things. And when we're fighting a war this "breezy" outlook isn't always wise. He has been a soldier for almost ten years now. He joined as a recruit when we were both twenty years old, then he became soldier, then finally we both got a place in cadet school were we have both been training to become officers or even better, rangers. If you pass the exam with high grades you join the rangers. They are the elite, highly skilled and powerful soldiers who take on the most dangerous missions. My chances on entering the rangers are very low if I get anything out of this exam, I'll get to be an officer.

"Mr. Pleasant do you ever see the down side to things?" the_ capail __sciathán _says watching Skulduggery intently, I can tell the horse doesn't trust him. Skullduggery, for once, is cought off gaurd. "A good soldier isn't made by how well he wields his magic or how well he uses his bow; he is made by his wisdom. His ability to know when it is in fact too dangerous or when his actions may cost the lives of his comrades is vital. This knowledge is a strong trait in many soldiers," the horse continues "A trait, Mr Pleasant you fail to uphold," Skulduggery doesn't reply to that. I whisper another word of thanks to the horse and burry my face in his mane to hide my smug smile from Skulduggery, it's not often my friend is speechless. In fact the horse is only the second person I know that can render him speechless. The first person is Skulduggery's wife Eachna Dubh. Eachna is one of the most amazing women I know her name means dark horse or steed in old Irish and I think it suites her well. Her and I have grown very close and is definitely one of my friends I couldn't bear to lose.

Sometimes Skulduggery doesn't know when to stop. But that's why we are such a good team. He's hot headed and physical I'm calmer and more . . . mental I suppose. His approach is always attack first think later in a 'hit the enemy in the face and he won't expect it' kind of way. I'm more plan now execute later in a 'come from behind and hit the enemy on the back of the head and he won't even see it coming' kind of way. Together we cancel each other out. We work well and get the job done.

I can't bear the thought of what might happen if we're separated he might get himself killed. No doubt Skulduggery made it into the rangers. I begin to think again still stroking the horse's mane. I've been to the hospital wards in our camp where Eachna works as a nurse. The rangers always come back with the worst injuries. They have been tortured with dark magic. The ranger's families have been targeted as well and mostly killed all just to get inside the ranger's head's . . . to unearth them. The thought of this scares me. I don't want to be the one to stand in the morgue and identify Skulduggery's mangled body. I don't want to have to be the one who tells his wife that her husband and father of her child has died only because he had high skills on the battle field. And I most definitely do not want to be the one to tell Skulduggery that his wife and child have been killed.

I shake my head to clear the thoughts of what Skulduggery might do then. My friend has a violent anger issue that is feared by many, but they don't know him like I do. I turn around. The sun is fully up now and I wonder how long we've been standing here. Finally the sergeants stop talking and turn to us. "Ranger Pleasant you are dismissed, thank you for your co-operation" Bullbarry says and with a swift salute Skulduggery turns on his heels and walks away. _Ranger_ my nightmare comes true Skulduggery is in the rangers now. To him this means a major promotion but I see it as a death sentence. I don't have much time to think more about his faith as the three men are addressing me now.

"Cadet Linn" Withers says. I stand to attention, my back straight, and my arms by my side and my chin up.

"You have shown great skills and agility over the past 18 months. Your power and determination have shone through your . . . disadvantage"

Deuce scowls at the word _disadvantage._

"You have also completed your exam with exceptional results exceeding all those in your class. So without further ado I formally promote you to the rank of ranger" Withers finishes his speech in a tone of complete disgust.

This can't be true. Ranger? I made Ranger I feel like jumping up and down with joy but at the same time I'm a little confused by my emotions. Becoming ranger means certain death but now I feel invincible not afraid. Images clash in my head, first the gruesome images of the rangers wounds followed by the images of the welcome and respect so many people give the rangers when the return from their missions.

Bullbarry steps forward and hands me my new rank slip that will attach to my uniform later to signify my standings in the army. I salute as he does so. "At ease soldier" he orders when he's finished. "Job well done" Bullbarry adds with a wink. I glance at Deuce he beams back a huge smile replaces his grumpy frown. I look at sergeant Withers, he nods grimly and I say "Thank you Sergeant I won't let you down" I can't help myself from smiling as I take the lonely walk back to camp, half skipping with joy because today I made history. Josephine Linn the first woman ever to be accepted into the White Brotherhood Army. Yeah, I like the sound of that. I smile to myself man am I going to kick ass.

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**so thats it so far the next chapter is the start of the real thick plot :) its a couple of decades on and all the dead men will be there i promise :D**

**sorry for any mistakes and please review**


	3. The Last Fence

**helloo :) well here you go the next chapter :) there is a bit of french at the end . . . I think it's wrong. :/ I meant to say 'Do you understand now general' . . . it will all make sense when you get there  
Please enjoy  
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"Do we go in?"

"Now we can't just walk in"

"Why not"

"Because . . . She might be changing"

"So we can walk in and if we're lucky we'll get a glimpse of her changing and we could say it was an accident"

I open my bedroom door to find Ghastly Bespoke and Dexter Vex arguing on the other side. Vex's blond hair is windswept and messy, his eyes sparkle and dimples show as he smiles at me. Ghastly expression is disapproving the scars on his bald head making the expression somewhat haunting. I smile at the two of my comrades. "Sorry boys, I'm already changed" I say. Ghastly blushes and Vex avoids eye contact. "Vex" I say sternly "Stop trying to drag Ghastly into potentially dangerous situations". I open the door and let them in. "It wasn't dangerous" Vex replies throwing himself on my bed. "Oh yes it was if you had walked in on me changing I would have broken both your noses" I say. "He still would have done it on the off chance that you would have broken his nose naked" Vex says with a grin. This comment earns Vex a hard punch in the arm from Ghastly.

The year is 1836 and right now I and the rest of the dead men are in France on another suicide mission. The 'Dead Men' also known as ranger squad 131 contain the highly skilled men of the White Brotherhood Army- the Irish branch of the White Mages Army. There are eight of us in total, Skulduggery Pleasant, Ghastly Bespoke, Saracen Rue, Larrikin, Hopeless, Dexter Vex, Anton Shudder and me, Josephine Linn. We've been fighting side by side for decades. Some say we got the name 'Dead men' because of the amount of suicide missions we have survived others say it's the way we would all be willing to die for each other. However we got the title when we were younger and now that's all we are ever called. Stories from our battles have spread worldwide and now we have sanctuaries from every continent asking for our resorces.

I put on my boots and walk out of my room with the two boys. "So, what's the craic?" I ask as we walk out of the dormitory. "General Joaux says we have to move into position today" Ghastly informs me. "He says the convoy has left Spain and are using the Pyrenees as cover,"

"Just as we thought Serpine is trying to get to Italy" Vex continues the brief "He's travelling to the coast where he'll get a boat from a private beach near Perpignan. There's no avoiding us if we wait at the eastern base of the mountains for them to pass. They won't be expecting us like you said, so we'll follow them into Perpignan and attack when they reach the beach." I nod. Finally the weeks of planning and following leads have paid off. Something must have changed in the plan though because all the boys have told me is the part of the plan I made up. "So what changed?" I ask, Ghastly smiles. "You're not just a looker then" he teases.

I just laugh. I'm in a good mood today I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the sun, we don't get much sun in Ireland maybe I've had too much sun and it's getting to my head. "Joaux is sending a whole patrol out with us, we're talking thirty to forty men, oh and the best part is we get to bring the French general himself along too." Vex says as we continue through the French army barracks. My smile vanishes. "That's weird" I think to myself. General Joaux is the French man who requested our help. He told us that Serpine is exporting a box containing an echo stone to Italy. We don't know whose stone it is but that whoever they were they knew a lot about the great magic sources and how to control them that information is now trapped inside the stone. And if Mevolent gets his hands on that information not only could he end the war but he could possibly end the world as we know it. Our objective is to get the box return it the French officials and then return home. However our mission is to get the box swap the stone, take the real stone back to Ireland and give the fake one to the French. Oh yeah and kill Serpine at first chance. Forty French men with us could make life a little tricky. For the swap to happen we would need to be alone and away from any French man because if we get caught and things go wrong we'll have to retreat to Ireland with Serpine and the French on our backs.

"That's not good, did he say why?" I ask. Now we are walking towards the Generals office. "It's not good" Vex agrees. "That's all we know so far. The others are in there with him now trying to get him to back off," We walk into the office, it's musty in here with the smell of cigars. I do a quick head count and sure enough all the dead men are here. I spot Saracen standing in the corner next to a very large map of France. There are hundreds of little markers indicating where men are stationed. The white markers are the 'white' allies from the white mages armies. The red markers are Mevolent's men and the grey markers are the allies who are believed to be compromised. Seeing all the markers on the map dampens my good mood because a lot of the markers are red and far fewer are white and there's a lot more grey markers than I had expected.

The mood shifts in the room and the talking stops. In the centre of the office Joaux is sitting at his desk. He is a small man with short cut black hair he is sitting with his arms folded looking back at Skulduggery who is standing on the other side of the desk. No one speaks as Skulduggery and Joaux engage in a fierce staring competition. Saracen stands motionless in the corner; he's working his magic on Joaux. Saracen is a sensitive a form of magic that is focused on the mind. He is very powerful and can use his powers in many different ways, right now he is trying to read Joaux's thoughts and find out his motive for sending his men out with us.

"General Joaux" Skulduggery breaks the silence but not his stare. He leans in over Joaux and makes is voice low and menacing without being too aggressive. "I like my job, General; do you want to know why I like my job? I like my job because I get to kill bad guys, bad guys who kill good guys. So when I do my job, when I kill the bad guys I'm really saving the good guys they would be killing if I hadn't killed them first. Do you see what I mean?" Skulduggery doesn't wait for a reply. "So the purpose of my job really is to save lives, lives that are worth saving. And you are stopping me from doing if you get in my way. Serpine is the bad guy and we were sent here to kill him. You are getting in the way of me doing my job so _Argo _you are ending lives. If I can't do my job and kill Serpine people will die, hundreds of people. If I let you get in my way I'm am effectively letting you kill the good guys. So if you are killing the good guy that makes you the bad guy.

Skulduggery turns so quickly the Joaux flinches away.

"Question" Skulduggery says addressing the group. "If General Joaux is stopping me saving good guys what does that make him?"

Seeing an opportunity to ridicule the French man I stick my hand up in the air like a school girl. Skulduggery looks at me and smiled so wide that all his teeth showed in a goofy way that could make anyone laugh. I struggle to keep my fit of giggles down as I answer his question. "It makes him a bad guy, because you save good guys by killing bad guys. So if someone is getting in your way they are killing good guys, which makes the person that is getting in your way a bad guy,"

"Very good, and what do we do with bad guys?"

"We kill them"

"Excellent" Skulduggery says giving me a crooked smile. Then he turned to Joaux and his smile vanished. "Do I make myself clear?" He said to Joaux.

"Yes."

"Do you want our help?"

"Yes."

"Will you let us do our job alone without your men?"

"No."

"Wrong answer. Try again."

There was a short pause and I look at Saracen. His eyes are squinted and he's focusing on Joaux. He glances at me and shakes his head. Joaux probably has a mental block against mind readers like Saracen. So we need to distract him and give Saracen a chance to read his mind.

"Mousier Pleasant" Joaux says leaning forward and placing is pointy elbows on his desk. "You do not understand-"

"No, you do not understand" I interrupt annoyed at the French man.

"This is France now," I say, walking over to the French map. Saracen winks at me, he's expecting a show. And a show he will get. I manipulate the air and all the white and grey pegs fly off the map and fly directly at Joaux I let them drop inches in front of his face.

"If you don't let us do our job, alone, this is what France will look like in a week" All the red pegs fly into the map. I walk away from the map until I am standing face to face with the French man. "And within one month France will look like this." I turn on my heel, click my fingers, and throw a fire ball at the map.

We all watch in silence as the map burns. Finally the flames die and all that was left was the charred remains of 'France'. I catch Saracen's eye to see if my show distracted Joaux enough for him to get the information we need. Saracen nodded once and walked out.

"Comprenez vous maintenant? General Joaux" I ask, but I walk out after Saracen before I get an answer. The rest of the dead men follow us out. "Ranger Linn" Joaux calls after me. "I understand, I will not send my men with you but I must accompany you, you understand?"

Hopeless opens his mouth to protest but I cut him off "Of course, that is positively understandable General, we leave in twenty minutes, and be ready" he nods to me and disappears back into his office. I turn to the others. "What are you thinking?" Larrikin asks me. "I was thinking we'll need fire wood, about five sticks each should do it" They all nod to me and I turn my back on them and walk back to my room to pack my bag.

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**If any one knows the proper french please please tell me! Thank you :)**

**Sorry for any mistakes **


	4. The Plan

**Yay! Summer's here!**

**Sorry I took so long updating this story. I wrote and re-wrote this chapter then edited untill all I was left with was this. I'm still not 100% happy with it. Please let me know what you think about it.**

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I wait in the wood for my men to arrive with Skulduggery. "We'll need fire wood" was code for us all to meet in the forest for a secret meeting "Five sticks each" Meant in five minutes, we have plenty of codes for different things. Ghastly is first to arrive, he drops his bag beside mine and sits down. "Please tell me you have a plan" he says. I nod once, I have a plan but I'm still not sure if it's any good. Anton is next, not smiling, as usual. Larrikin and Hopeless appear soon after; those two are just as close as Skulduggery and I they go everywhere together. Vex arrives and sits beside me and lazily drapes his arm around my shoulders.

"Hands off" Skulduggery says his green eyes burrowing a hole in Vex's head. "Relax Skull," Vex says.

"Hands off, _now_" Vex mutters a curse at Skulduggery and his arm retracts from around my shoulders. Skulduggery has always had a protective personality towards anyone he gets close to. I'm afraid that his protective traits will go against us one day.

As we wait for everyone to arrive idle chatter begins between us. Most off it is excitement about going home to Ireland. We've all been abroad for over eighteen months our last mission is this one in France. God I can't wait to get home and see Eachna again. Eachna is Skulduggery's wife and my best friend. I am in dire need for a catch up. I get letters from her constantly with news from home, what's happening and how she and her son Collin are doing at home in the army barracks. Somehow it's just not enough. Even though she writes to tell me she is okay I can't believe it until I see it for myself. Mevolent's men have been known to forge letters before, and I can't help but worry.

I look around the group. Ghastly and Skulduggery are sitting next to each other trying to include Shudder into their conversation. Shudder for his part just smiles and nods along only contributing a few words. Larrikin and Hopeless chat freely like the close friends that they are. Saracen and Vex are beside me and I can't help hear that they're talking about the weather. Typical Irish men, they are always talking about the weather. I don't want to start the meeting just yet, so I sit back against a tree and let the sunlight warm my face. I can hear the birds in the trees above me, chirping away. Their music mixes with the men's low voices and when I close my eyes I'd swear I was at a picnic instead of a secret meeting during war time. I can hear a stream off in the distance. I let my mind wonder and fall into a daydream. I imagine finally getting home and the crowd that'll rush to meet us at the gate of the Curragh Army camp where I and the rest of the dead men live.

I'm not sure how long I've been sitting here daydreaming, I told Joaux to be ready to leave in twenty minutes. A small smile spread slowly across my lips as I thought about the French man waiting alone for us to arrive.

Finally I decide to bring the meeting to order. I stand up in one sudden, swift movement and the dead men stop talking. They all look at me with respect and anticipation. I run through my plan once more in my head before I speak.

"So . . . I know taking the general of the French mages army with us when we are plotting to stab the French in the back by stealing the real echo stone and replacing it with a phony . . . seems close to impossible, but when has the impossible ever been a problem for us?" I say beaming. I get a lot of happy smiles back. As I speak I begin to pace around the circle my friends have formed. "And I have a plan, a good plan"

"We hope" Hopeless says with a wink.

I just smile back then stop pacing and turn to Saracen. "What did you find out from reading Joaux?" I ask him. He looks at me and frowns then stands up. I stand back and let Saracen take the centre circle. "Well" he begins in his low sweet voice. "He's very suspicious of us as if he doesn't trust us, well . . . Jo, it's you he doesn't trust." A few of the men laugh. I glance at Skulduggery and he smiles at me. This isn't the first time people have had problems with me leading missions like this. When people hear the name "Jo" they jump to the conclusion that I'm a man, then when they see that I'm only a small skinny woman, they're not too keen on letting me take the lead. _"Stupid sexist society"_ I mutter under my breath as Saracen continues. "Other than that nothing major, he is hiding something that I couldn't get at but Joaux isn't too focused on it so maybe it's only something small." Saracen finishes.

"Good, thank you Saracen." I say waiting for him to sit down again before I continue "So here's the plan, we'll split into three teams. Team one will be me, Larrikin and Hopeless. Team two then, Ghastly, Vex and Saracen. Finally team three is Shudder, Skull and Joaux."

I glance at Shudder whose eyebrows have just shot up so high that they are almost touching his hairline. Then I look at Skulduggery, he has tilted his head to the side looking at me with a small crease between his eyebrows. Neither of them protests about having the French man on their team so I get back to telling everyone the plan.

"It's simple; we track the convoy from the base of the mountain. Then when we near the beach, I want teams one and two flank the convoy on both sides while team three begins the assault on the six foot soldiers.

I need team three to be lethal, efficient and effective, pick off their soldiers one at a time. Be quick and quiet," I say firmly to Skulduggery and Shudder who both nod in agreement.

"Teams one and two will need to be ready to attack, as soon as the foot soldiers have been taken care of. Teams one and two attack the two carriages - taking one each – from opposite sides. Skull and Shudder, you two need to keep Joaux distracted while we switch the echo stone. So I want your team to close in on Serpine while we search for the stone. My bet is that he'll flee at the first sight of danger so keep track of him."

"Be careful," I continue addressing the whole group again "We don't know exactly what surprises are waiting for us in the carriages. Serpine won't have left the stone unguarded without some form of security so keep that in mind,"

I stop talking to catch my breath. I look around the group. Every one of the dead men are silent, I can see in their eyes the way they are going through the plan, analyzing it and checking for any holes in the planning. Hopeless finds one and raises his hand to ask a question.

"Who swaps the phoney stone for the real one?" As he asks Hopeless' eyes sparkle. I have a feeling that he wants to do the swap himself, just for the sake of a good story to tell to the ladies back home.

"Well you have the fake stone so you can swap it" I reply.

"But what if my team finds the stone and Hopeless is with you searching the other carriage." Vex says raising his eyebrows at me.

Damn. I didn't think of that. Larrikin comes to my rescue by suggesting that he could set up a link between the three team leaders, Vex, Skulduggery and I. Larrikin is a bit of a whizz with symbols and says he can draw a symbol on each of our ears that will allow the team leaders to hear each other's thoughts and communicate throughout the mission.

"Great," I said after all the questions had been answered and Larrikin had finished drawing the symbols. "Let's go then," We all gathered our things and walked together back to camp to meet Joaux.

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**Well there you go, nothing exciting has happened yet but it will soon I promise! I hope this chapter hasn't bored you death. Thanks for reading it and please review to let me know what you think of my O/C's and how I can improve. **

**:) **


	5. Lying in wait

**Hello :)**

**This chapter was meant to be part of chapter six but then chapter six was too long. So here it is anyway. I give you: The chapter that wasn't meant to be a chapter. **

**Enjoy.**

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It didn't take us long to take up our position on the south base of the mountains. Well, it only took us seconds because Hopeless is a teleporter. Once we got there we began to dig a hole that we could lie in. We couldn't light a fire because it would give away our position. For the same reason we couldn't talk either.

We were all sitting around in our little hole waiting for the convoy. Joaux was in a particularly bad mood he just sat on the outskirts of the group. All the dead men and I were huddled close together to keep warm, we asked Joaux to join us but he said something like he didn't want people to talk and that men of his standards did not hug each other when it got a bit cold.

When he said this Hopeless and Larrikin made a huge show of hugging each other and Hopeless even went as far as to plant a sloppy kiss on Larrikin's cheek. Everyone laughed apart from Joaux who was completely disgusted by the display. I ended the laughter abruptly because it was getting too loud and I scolded Hopeless and Larrikin for messing about. After that nobody sad a word and I felt guilty for putting a dampener on everybody's good mood.

Darkness fell and consumed us all in shadows. The birds no longer sang and an eerie silence filled our hole. I motioned to Larrikin and Hopeless to start night watch at either end of the hole. I knew that once the two men got bored they would start to play pranks and mess about. So I thought keeping the two separated would lessen the chances of them getting us all into trouble. I lay back against the back of the hole the wet clay soaked the back of my shirt and I shivered. A slow misty rain began to fall and I prayed to a god that I didn't even believe in that we wouldn't be waiting long.

My prayers weren't answered though because three days later we were still stuck in the hole. It was midday in the third day and my legs were unbelievably stiff. I stood up and walked up and out of the hole. Once day came I let the dead men move about more. Skulduggery, Anton and Vex were still in the hole all of them using the sunlight to read letters from home. I couldn't make sense of the swirls and shapes on the yellow parchment. I couldn't read I never could but it didn't bother me. Whenever I got a letter I would just have Skulduggery read it out loud to me. He used to complain and always offered to teach me how to read. I always declined.

I wondered off into the trees and found Hopeless sitting in an old oak tree. I watched him as he cupped his hands over his mouth and whistled. I listened as a bird elsewhere in the trees answered his call. "Care to join me?" He called down. "Shhh!" I hissed. His dark hair was long and done into tight plaits. Crow lines are what they called them in Egypt. That's where he got them done, in a small ally in Cairo. His grey eyes followed me as I climbed the tree.

"I have a present for you" he said pulling out a small bracelet. It was skinny and made out of grass. I looked at it. The individual blades of grass were all different colours and all woven into each other. A smile spread across my face. It was beautiful. "It's made out of grasses from every single country we have been to on this voyage." He explained as he began to point at the different grasses. "From, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Spain, Italy, the USSR, Holland, Persia, Egypt, Africa, Germany and France they're all there."

"I love it. It's perfect the best present ever, Hopeless thank you." I said awestruck I pulled him into a hug. He laughed and tied it around my wrist. "Your collections growing" he noted nodding to the bracelets on my wrist. I looked at them I had five including Hopeless' one. A white ribbon from Eachna, a skinny bracelet made from fabric from Ghastly's parents, a very messy horse hair bracelet from Skulduggery's three year old son Collin and a plaited leather one that was a birthday present from Skulduggery. "Yeah I suppose it is" I smiled.

The symbol behind my ear tingled and Skulduggery's velvet voice echoed in my ear. "It is go time are you finished?" I noted the impatience in his voice.

"Why jealous I got an end of mission present and you didn't?" I teased.

"No, I just don't believe in mixing my personal life with my professional life and this mission is _not_ over yet"

"He's well jealous that Hopeless gave you a present instead of him" Vex's voice interjected.

"No one asked for your opinion Dexter" Skulduggery sighed.

"Touchy, touchy"

"Okay you said we need to go then let's go stop bickering like school children" I said, jumping down from the tree with Hopeless following.

"I am never childish I was simply voicing my opinion on the social standing of yourself and Hopeless" Skulduggery replied.

"Nah, I get it now. Skull isn't jealous of the bracelet he is jealous of you spending time with Hopeless" Vex said with a laugh. I wasn't in the mood for listening to them argue anymore so I tapped the symbol and their voices stopped in my head. "What's wrong? Don't you like it?" Hopeless asked. I forgot he didn't hear the conversation that just happened in my head. "No I love, honestly. It's go time that's all Skull and vex were just letting me know." I said. "Oh, great then, let's go kick some Serpine ass" He replied with a wild smile like he was looking forward to the fight.

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**There you have it. Thanks for reading. Please review to give me your opinion on my O/C's or if you have any suggestions on how I can improve, please don't hold back.**

**:D**


	6. Following, Attacking, Fighting, Dying

**The capter that wasn't meant to be a chapter's other half ;)**

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The tree teams followed the convoy silently. We followed it down a small dirt road that lead to the beach and onto the beach itself. I gave the order to Skulduggery to start the assault. He nodded once and pointed to Shudder and Joaux then to the first three foot soldiers. Silently Shudder closed the gap and tapped his opponent on the shoulder. The soldier turned around and his face collided with Shudder's fist. Then he collapsed unconscious onto the ground. God Shudder could hit hard.

Skulduggery stepped forward and kicked Serpine's soldier in the back of the knee. The man buckled and fell to his knees quickly Skulduggery grabbed the man's head in both hands and twisted. I gasped as the man fell down dead. Skulduggery's eyes darted to me. "Be lethal, efficient and effective, right?" His voice echoed in my head. I nodded "Calm down and keep your head," I replied. "You were supposed to wait until Joaux got rid of his man. For god sake keep to the plan" I cursed out load as Joaux got confused and didn't make his hit. The four remaining foot soldiers notice Skulduggery's team and let out a shout. Four on three weren't good odds but it worsened when one of the carriage doors burst open and a dozen soldiers jumped out and surrounded my three dead men.

"Vex! Scrap the plan. Get your team down there and help." I ordered in my head, and then I watched Vex, Ghastly and Saracen emerged from the trees and attack from behind. I nodded to my team and we too ran to join the fight. I released arrow after arrow. I took down two men by sending bolts of lightning into the back of their necks. I had to admit that being able to use adept and elemental magic was a great advantage. We fought brutally, both sides took hits. A sword cut my upper arm and I turned to face my attacker. He plunged again with the sword and I narrowly avoided the blade. I sent an elbow into his nose and tried to follow with a right hook but he caught it and twisted my arm behind my back. I whipped out my dagger stabbed him in the leg and elbowed him in the groin. He doubled over and his head came into line with my shoulder before he got a chance I slit his throat. The soldier slumped over my shoulder guttering and choking. I pushed him off me and stood up only to be grabbed from behind.

Before I knew it I was trapped in a choke hold I gasped for air but my lungs remained empty. Skulduggery appeared with a musket in his hands. He lit the fuse and the flame travelled down the rope. The flame lit the gunpowder and a bullet flew out of the barrel and lodged its self in the man's head with a deafening bang. He fell and I collapsed into a coughing fit. "T-thanks" I spluttered. Skulduggery helped me up and I had to push him out of the way as Ghastly passed punching one of Serpine's men to a pulp in front of him at great speed.

Skulduggery and I turned and fought back to back for a while. I noticed Larrikin and Saracen taking on Serpine and his two body guards. Serpine's left hand was wrapped in white bandages. "Skull, grab Joaux and get Serpine he's injured so leave Shudder with me you won't need him, use Larrikin and Saracen instead." I called over my shoulder. Skulduggery nodded once, finished off the man he was fighting and took off. I looked at the man I was fighting. He wasn't any good, so I finished him quickly with one powerful blow to his head with the blade of my sword. He crumbled and fell at my feet. He was bleeding heavily from the wound; his glassy, lifeless eyes stared up at me.

I looked up, the fight was just over. Skulduggery, Larrikin and Saracen were taking on Serpine and his two bodyguards. Shudder was using his gist to tear apart three other soldiers at once and Vex and Hopeless were taking on a very large man with a battle axe. The man I recognised as "The Hammer" he was one of Serpine's most feared hunch men. The Hammer lunged with the axe and Hopeless dived out of the way. Then he grabbed a handful of sand and threw it in The Hammer's face. The hunch man raised his axe momentarily blinded. Vex came up behind him and jumped on his back. The Hammer swung his axe around but it was no use. Hopeless got up and lunged, rugby tackling the hammer to the ground. As the three men wrestled I began to search the dead soldiers that littered the beach.

I found a gun like ting in one dead man's belt. It was smaller than the musket Skulduggery had used and it didn't have a fuse. I examined the gun. A handgun was what I thought it was it was a very advanced weapon at the time and very rare. No one on the white allies' side even knew how to use them but Mevolent could afford to give them to his foot soldiers. My head snapped up when I remembered that we still hadn't got the stone. I looked around. One carriage stood still in the middle of the carnage. The driver couldn't manoeuvre the horses past the mess of dead bodies. Quickly I strung an arrow onto my bow and pulled back. I aimed for the driver's heart and released the arrow. With the man dead I ran up to the carriage door. "Anton!" I yelled "Help Vex. Hopeless Come here!" They both did what they were told. I waited for Hopeless to come closer. Before I opened the door I said "Get the stone swap it and bring it straight to Joaux. Don't hesitate no matter what happens".

I grabbed the handle and screamed out in pain as the handle glowed red and burned my hand. Still screaming I pulled the door open. Once the door opened fully I noticed the security symbols on the door frame. They flashed blue and a wave of energy knocked me off my feet and I landed heavily on the sand. A circle of symbols surrounded me that pinned me down so that I was unable to move. I couldn't see anything only the boat that bobbed on the waves. I watched helpless as Serpine ran past me followed closely by Skulduggery and Joaux. Larrikin stopped beside me and knelt down to deal with the symbols. He examined the symbols and then tapped one with his finger. The circle disappeared and I sat up. In my head I told Skulduggery to leave Serpine. Everyone was tired, everyone just wanted to get home and the sooner we were done there the sooner we got back to Ireland. Hopeless probably already found the stone and made the swap and that was the main thing and the beach was very exposed. If we waited for Skulduggery to kill Serpine it would just give Serpine's men on the boat more time to get on shore and my men weren't in good shape for another battle. I decided it would be best to get off the beach sooner than later. Skulduggery was furious but I told him we would find Serpine again.

Skulduggery turned briskly on his heel and power walked away from Serpine. Serpine Smiled and bowed to me then wrapped some shadows around himself and disappeared. Joaux was left kind of startled. He turned and slowly followed Skulduggery back down the beach.

Hopeless joined me and Larrikin at the carriage. "I found the stone" he said with a devilish glint in his eyes. "Well done go give it too Joaux and let's get out of here before one of us gets killed" I said. Hopeless and Larrikin let out a cheer. "Mission completed!" Larrikin cheered and he got a few celebratory cheers back off Ghastly and Vex. "Go!" I laughed at Hopeless who was doing his victory dance. "We're not in the clear until Joaux get the stone" Hopeless disappeared mid dance and I saw him reappear in front of Joaux. I surveyed the wound on my arm. It was deep but I couldn't feel it. The adrenalin pumping around my body dulled the pain to the point where it only tingled a bit.

I got to my feet to watch the exchange. Hopeless handed Joaux the stone. Hopeless laughed and slapped Joaux on the back. He even turned around and stuck up his middle finger to the boat that had sailed off into the distance. The French man took the stone in one hand and smiled.

Then the unbelievable happened.

Hopeless turned and smiled at me pure delight filled his face. I was unable to return his smile as I watched in horror as Joaux used his free hand to pull out a small gun. I yelled out in warning but it was too late. Joaux pressed the barrel of the gun to Hopeless' head and squeezed the trigger.

Hopeless' head recoiled violently as he fell. His knees hit the sand then his chest followed by his head. His whole body seemed to bounce upon hitting the sand at the French mans feet. He was dead before he even hit the ground. His blood flowed and mixed with the incoming tide. I looked at my comrade's body in the surf. "No" I whispered in a hollow voice. Larrikin screamed in grief for his friend and Skulduggery turned and ran back to where Hopeless lifeless body lay. But it was too late.

Hopeless the Dead man had actually died.

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**D:**

**Thanks again for reading. Please review this chapter I need to know how well I did killing off this character. I hope to god I did poor Hopeless justice and if I didn't please tell me how I could have done in better!**


	7. Trapped

I ran to where Skulduggery was kneeling over Hopeless. "No, no, no, no, no" I mumbled. Joaux was gone without a trace. "How?" I asked out loud. Larrikin dove onto the sand beside his friend pushing Skulduggery away. "Hopeless come on buddy get up come on get up!" Larrikin whispered in vein. "GET UP! GET UP NOW YOU SELFISH BLOODY GIT!" Larrikin's whispers turned into screams of anguish. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS YOU CANNOT DIE!" I watched as Larrikin hammered his fists on Hopeless' chest. He was desperate. We all knew that Hopeless was dead, but at the same time we all hoped that he would wake up and joke about in the same way we all hoped to be out of this endless nightmare, we all hoped that the war would end. Hope is paralysing as I've learned that from experience it makes you believe in things that will never happen. Hopeless would never joke again. A large lump formed in my throat and every time I tried to swallow it my eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over.

I don't know how long we stood there just staring at Hopeless' body and the pain and loss that Larrikin was going through. Larrikins freckled face was wet with tears as he stopped hammering and just laid his hands gently on Hopeless' chest. His screams stopped and he just sat there, shaking his head slowly from side to side. He mumbled to himself. Huge mournful sobs rocked his body, his hands shook slightly and his eyes where opened wide as endless amounts of tears flowed freely from them. Larrikin, a man I had just seen killing men on the battle field was reduced to a snivelling heap beside his best friend's body

Skulduggery stood up his face was grim his deep jade eyes were shiny, his eyebrows were furrowed and instead of his normally easy smile his lips formed into a small thin line beneath his strong nose and check bones. He put a hand on Larrikin's shoulder and squeezed lightly. Larrikin clasped his hand over Skulduggery's and held on to it as if it was the only thing that mattered at that moment. With his free hand Skulduggery lit a flame and let it burn blue. Then he threw the flame in the air. It was a sign of a fallen hero. I lighted my own flame and threw it up to join Skulduggery's. Soon there were seven blue flames floating above our heads, illuminating the deathly scene.

Something was wrong about the whole situation there was something very wrong something that I couldn't put my finger on. The answer was in my head like a loose tooth. I kept nudging it with the tip of my tongue hoping that it would just pop out. In my head I played back everything that had happened over the past twenty four hours. That was when the tooth popped out but like when any tooth pops out there was a moment of searing pain and my mouth was filled with a horrible copper taste. I swallowed hard. "Circle now" I ordered. I got blank, grief stricken looks of my men. "Now, protective circle around Larrikin and Hopeless face out" slowly they did what I asked. I pulled out my sword and held it in my good hand, the men followed unsure of what threat I could see that they couldn't.

"It's a trap" I said in a hollow voice. "We've walked straight into a trap; I've led you straight into a trap." I said.

"Are you sure?" Ghastly asked from beside me.

"_How_ are you sure?" Skulduggery asked from my other side.

"It was too easy. I mean if Serpine was really transporting an echo stone that could change the face of the war, he would have had more security not just two carriages and a handful of soldiers. He wouldn't have done it in broad daylight and he most certainly would not have let any of the white allies know about it. The beach is easy to defend. We are probably surrounded already" I explained looking around. We were standing in the surf, behind us was the road we came from, on our left there was a huge cliff face and to the right there was dense forest. "It was Joaux's idea to attack on the beach he said that it would be harder for the carriages to move on the sand and that we would have a better chance to attack then. He knew about the trap, he's been working with Serpine this whole time."

"We've been had." Vex whispered from somewhere behind me.

"What do we do now?" Shudder asked.

"Get out of-"

"We kill him. We have to _kill_ him" A very dark, very quiet voice interrupted me. I turned to look at Larrikin. "We have to kill Joaux. He's a traitor he is punishable by death!" He said.

I shook my head "No our first priority is to-"

"I agree with Larrikin" I was interrupted again this time by Skulduggery. "He went towards the forest. We find him, we kill him and then we can get out of here"

"No." I said firmly "No we can't we need to get out of here." But Skulduggery wasn't listening to me he was he was facing the other way scanning the tree line for Joaux.

I punched him the arm hard. He spun around to face me. "You will listen to me when I'm speaking to you" For a second I almost pulled rank on him. I was first Captain on this mission which made me in charge he was my second in command at the moment he took orders from me. Skulduggery looked at me and nodded it wasn't an apology but it was the best I was going to get.

"We split up and take the carriage horses. There are only four horses and seven of us so break into pairs one of us can ride alone. We ride out towards -"

"Eight" Larrikin interrupted again.

"What?" I was furious now every second we spent on the beach was a second we wouldn't have on the escape. I was sick of being interrupted.

"You said seven of us you're wrong there are eight of us there always has been." Then turning to Hopeless' body he said "Don't worry she just made a mistake there is eight of us; me, you, her, him, the other two and the big ones."

"He is delusional" Ghastly whispered.

"He is in shock" Vex corrected.

Great now I had one hot headed soldier and one delusional with shock. "Fine eight of us, split into pairs. Ghastly you carry Hopeless, Shudder you carry Larrikin. Vex and Saracen together and I'll take Skull"

"I'm sorry you'll _take_ me? That is hurtful. Am I just an object to you is that it? Just something you can take?"

"No, you are more of a burden" I replied. Skulduggery muttered something unsavoury under his breath so I chose to ignore it.

Ghastly sighed. "Stop bickering you two" He said tirelessly.

I threw Skulduggery one last look before I continued. "Each pair takes a horse and rides the hell out of here. Everyone goes separate ways. Do you all remember the inn were we found Ghastly that weekend with Francois?" Everyone smiled and nodded. "Ride to there when you get there wait three days, if no one shows up after three days you ride to the nearest port get on a boat and go straight to the Curragh. Avoid army bases and navel vessels at all costs. We have to assume that all of France is compromised. Don't talk to anyone don't use any form of communication. No telegraphs, no letters do you hear me?"

They all nodded. "Good stay off the grid and stay safe" I said to them. "Ghastly go first we'll cover you. GO!"

Ghastly scooped up Hopeless' body and ran. The minute he broke free of the circle a shower of arrows sped out of the forest and flew directly at him. The others shot their own arrows back to the forest. I couldn't with my burned hand so I continued giving orders. I watched Ghastly cut one of the horse's loose, throw Hopeless on its back then jump on and ride off. "Shudder. Go now!" Shudder grabbed Larrikin and threw him over his shoulder and ran off. I began to light the others arrow heads and soon the trees were on fire. Serpine's men that had been in the forest began to retreat. "Vex, Saracen, go now!" the two of them turned and sprinted back to where the horses were.

Then there was only Skulduggery and me. He continued to send arrows into the burning tree line. I was just about to tell him to make a run when someone stepped out of the smoke and waved. "Hello ladies" They called. It was Joaux. "I'm going to kill you!" Skulduggery roared as he ran towards the French man. "Skulduggery stop!" I yelled but it was too late. Just as my friend neared Joaux a net sprung up from beneath the sand and trapped Skulduggery inside. I screamed and ran. More men emerged from the trees and ran with swords towards Skulduggery. As I neared the trap I pulled out my own arrow. My hand still burned but I didn't have a choice I had lost Hopeless already I wasn't going to lose Skulduggery too.

I sent arrows and killed three men I then switched to using magic and shot two more with lightning bolts. I got close enough to cut Skulduggery free and he scrambled to his feet. The men were upon us. I took my sword and sent lightning bolts along the blade. I plunged the sword into the nearest man and the lightning electrocuted him from the inside. "Run!" I yelled to Skulduggery. I turned to find him battling with Joaux. Something sliced into my side. I turned and found another attacker who had dug his sword into my side. I could feel the cold blade inside me. The man looked at me then he twisted the sword. I screamed out and fell to my knees. The pain was unbelievable. The man withdrew his sword and my body twisted in pain. I used my hands to cover the gaping hole in my side and to stop the bleeding. Warm sticky blood pulsed and poured through my fingers. I lay face down in the sand unable to move. Horse hooves appeared out of now where and suddenly I was lifted up and let down on the horses shoulders. I screamed out in pain once more. The horse turned and ran. I couldn't make sense of what was happening to me. Sand blurred below me and all I could hear was my frantic heart beat. I could vaguely hear a voice over my heart. Someone was above me talking to me. The voice was soft and deep but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I couldn't hold on anymore. My head pounded and my whole body ached. My muscles relaxed, I went limp and lost consciousness.


	8. Pain and Suffering

My head was pounding and a fine layer of sweat covered my body when I woke up. My hand was on fire, the smell of rotting flesh and puss reached my nostrils and I groaned. I couldn't feel my side anymore and for a horrible moment I thought it wasn't there. I reached my hand down to where I thought the wound was. My hand touched something warm and sticky. My fingers began to poke something that had the same texture of raw chicken. I withdrew my hand in shock when I realised that my hand had just been inside the gaping hole in my side. I groaned again my throat was too tight for me to form any words. My mouth was gummy and my tongue felt swollen like a slug that had taken up permanent residence between my teeth. I there was crust on my eyes that tugged and pulled on my lashes when I tried to open them. With my eyes open and my eye lashes gone I could see that I was lying under a tree and surrounded by bushes. I could hear horse hooves and the chatter of people coming from somewhere behind me.

My brain was slow and my thoughts were scattered. Slowly I began to piece together what had happened on the beach. Images of Hopeless falling, Skulduggery in a net and a sword in my side were like cold water that awakened me from my sluggish state. My brain worked hard trying to remember who had taken me from the beach, someone on a horse. That's all I could remember. I tried to sit up to get my bearings but my vision blurred, my head pounded and my ears filled with the deafening sound of my heart beat. I lay back down and waited for the nausea felling to stop. I took a few deep breaths and swallowed, but when I swallowed I tasted blood. I knew then that it was no good trying to move. My body was a wreck no way I would be getting to my feet soon. All I had left to do was wait.

I'm not sure how long I waited but at one point I remember thinking that maybe I had been left there to die. I quickly banished those thoughts. I tried to stay awake and stay alert but my body had other ideas. I felt the hands of sleep clawing at my brain and soon I gave into my body's need of rest.

I woke with a start. I could sense someone's presence beside me; I could hear their soft breathing and the gentle swish of their clothes. Their hands touched my burned hand and I moaned in agony. I felt them lift my hand up and place it into some sort of liquid. I screamed out as the liquid made my hand burn even more as it already was. A hand clamped over my mouth and quenched the screams. It smelt of earth and smoke. Desperate to see who the hands belonged to I tried to open my eyes but the crust was back and it was thicker and more stubborn than the last time so my attempts were futile. A wet cloth mopped my face it was a nice cooling sensation the cloth brushed over my eyes and the crust was removed. My eyes sprang open and I saw Dexter Vex's worried face staring back at me. A wave of relief washed over me as he removed his hand from my mouth. His blonde hair was messy and there was dried blood coming from a gash on his forehead. His eyes were red rimmed and etched with concern. He looked tired.

I coughed a little and a bit of blood spewed from my lips Vex quickly cleared it away with the cloth. "Don't speak, don't move don't even think. I you need to rest. We are at the inn I am waiting one more day then I have to get you home and to a doctor." His voice was deep and assertive. "I can't bring you into the inn like this without people asking questions so we are going to wait until night falls then we are getting on an overnight boat to Dundalk." I opened my mouth to protest but quickly stopped when Vex's head snapped up. He looked at something behind me. He whistled twice and then waved. The whistle was our dead men call so that meant that other dead men were around. The bushes parted and Saracen walked in to our little hide out. His arm was in a sling and he had a long cut on his cheek. Skulduggery followed him. Skulduggery looked at me and his face paled. He had a black eye and his dark hair was singed but other than that he seemed okay. He came to kneel beside me. He looked me over once and gulped. Then he looked at Vex and then back to me. "Are you okay?" he asked in a whisper, is eyes wide. I didn't want to open my mouth in case I spewed blood on my friends face. So I nodded and offered him a small smile. "Of course she's not okay!" Vex exploded. "She's not okay because she had a sword the length of my forearm shoved in her side when she ran to save your sorry butt after you completely ignored her orders. You're lucky you're still alive Pleasant. Thanks to you Jo mightn't even make it to-"

"Dexter" Saracen said. "Now is not the time"

The three men sent me worried looks. "_Mightn't make it" _his words echoed around my head. I looked down and lifted my shirt. The smell of rotten flesh intensified. I winced. My whole left side was swollen from the bottom of my rib cage to my hip. The wound was around the size of my fist. Red blood dotted with green puss trickled out of the hole in a steady flow. The flesh closed to the wound was black and rotten. I whimpered and looked at Skulduggery he looked back at me and took my hand in his. "I'm so sorry" he whispered. Vex grunted and stormed off. Saracen muttered something and went after Vex, leaving Skulduggery and I alone. "You would have done the same" I said through gritted teeth but I couldn't help the dribble of blood that escaped down my chin. Skulduggery's face paled even more at the sight of the blood. "I wouldn't have had to . . ." He said as he cleared away the blood on my chin.

We sat in silence my breathing was too short and too loud for my liking. I watched Skulduggery closely. His normal indifferent face had replaced the worried face he wore before. He hardly ever let his face give away his emotions, but I had known him since we were six years old. Now that we were pushing one hundred and twenty two years of age, I knew what to look for. His jaw was tight and he was sitting very still which gave away the fact that he was very angry. His hands curled and uncurled into fists. He took slow deep breaths in through his nose. I just stared and waited for him to regain his composure like always.

He coughed once and then straightened himself up. He brushed imaginary dust off his uniform jacket and straightened his belt. Then he pulled a piece of cloth out of his pocket and flattened it out. The cloth seemed to be the remains of his hat. The hat had a large hole burned in the side of it. Skulduggery sighed and returned the hat to his pocket.

He looked at me again. His jade green eyes burrowed a hole into my soul. I knew that he knew what I was thinking. We were so close I swear we could read each other's thoughts. _Don't let me die here_ I thought with tears in my eyes. _You won't _he said with a small shake of his head. "It would take a hell of a lot more than a sword to kill you Josephine" He said out loud. His velvet voice calmed me and slowed my racing heart. _He's right_ I told myself _you're not going to die over this_-

"It's only a scratch" Skulduggery said completing my thoughts. He pulled back down my shirt and covered me with my jacket and I fell asleep determined that I would wake up again soon.

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**Hello **

**Sorry this chapter is short and uneventful I wanted to update it because I won't be updating again until August :'(**

**Thanks for reading, review and let me know what you think!**

**:D**


	9. The Doctor

I woke with a start and a sharp intake of breath that hurt my lungs. I heard someone breathe a sigh of relief. I opened my eyes and my vision swam. I sat up and waited for my eyes to focus. I was in a small cramped room that only had a door and a window. I was lying on a small bed of straw with several blankets draped over me. Sitting on the floor next to me was Skulduggery Pleasant. His jade green eyes stared at me from above his high cheek bones. His dark hair was messy and his lanky body was folded neatly into the small space with his knees brought right up to his chin. He gave me one of his lopsided smiles and I smiled back. I looked down at my own body it looked so small under all the blankets. My left side still stung but it was nothing compared to the pain I'd endured before. I looked at my burnt hand, it wasn't red anymore it was perfectly healed without a trace of a scar "Wow," I whispered as I twisted my hand to inspect every inch of it, utterly impressed by the doctors work.

Skulduggery chuckled beside me; it was a wonderful low sound. I looked at him and he said "It was the other hand Josephine," then he laughed and smiled at me again. I let my left hand fall and withdrew my right hand from under the blankets. This hand was covered in thick bandages and when I tried to move it I could feel the irritated, damaged skin beneath. "Oh," I murmured this made Skulduggery laugh again. I laughed with him; I'd forgotten how it felt to laugh. It was brilliant, I forgot everything that had happened and just opened my mouth and laughed. A warm feeling filled my stomach and slowly spread around my body. I laughed until I couldn't make a sound and just lay in the bed shaking. Skulduggery laughed with me his low rich laugh was such a sweet sound that it made me feel warmer inside.

But soon my laughter broke down into huge, hysteric, sobs.

Greif rocked my body as I thought about Hopeless. Images of his dead body flashed upon my closed eyelids and I cried even more. Skulduggery's laughter stopped abruptly, and suddenly the room felt very dark. Without his laughter I felt lost in a pit of grief. I cried harder when I thought about all the people who I knew that had died. Their faces clouded my thoughts. I cried for the widows and the fatherless children whose husbands had fallen victim to the war. I cried for the countless soldiers on the frontline and the men taken prisoner by Mevolent, for the lost souls on the battle fields and the penniless crippled man who couldn't work because Mevolent's men had taken his legs.

Then I just cried for all the grief and sadness this god forsaken war. My sobs got quieter and finally stopped but the tears flowed steadily down my cheeks. I was worried. I only ever cried in front of him but I never had abrupt breakdowns like this before and never this frequent. It was my fourth time to breakdown since I left Ireland. Skulduggery didn't speak as I brought myself together. He knew that he would only embarrass me if he said something.

"Did you kill him?" I asked quietly. "Did you kill Joaux?"

Skulduggery looked at me with his sullen, green eyes. He shook his head slowly and sighed. "I assure you, the next time that cowardly excuse of a man crosses my path I will put a bullet in his head." He said with determination. A moments silence passed between us before Skulduggery spoke again.

"Josephine"

"Yes Skulduggery?"

"I need to ask you something"

"Ask away"

Skulduggery paused; he cocked his head to the side as if he was trying to figure out how to proceed with the question.

"Have you been feeling the-"

The door burst open, interrupting Skulduggery. A doctor strode in with a nurse at his side. I snapped my head around in surprise. "Ah," Skulduggery whispered beside me. "Doctor Kenspeckle Grouse, he is very young for such a highly skilled, highly qualified doctor. Although he has certain features that may appeal to the ladies, his bedside manner leaves much to be desired."

With only ten minutes with the young doctor I realised that Skulduggery was right about two things. First Doctor Grouse was _very _good looking. He had sandy blond hair, blue eyes and a sharp jaw line that was prickled with an unshaven beard. I guessed he must be around seventy or eighty, at least judging on his looks and Skulduggery's description. Skulduggery was right again when he had talked about Grouse's bedside manner. After he explained to the nurse my situation he jabbed my side with his finger. "Ouch!" I yelped.

"Did that hurt?" He asked

"Yes" I replied sharply. He grunted. He instructed the nurse to lift my shirt and she did so carefully. Grouse let his hands turn blue and they began to glow. He pressed them against my wound without another word. Warmth spread throughout my body and the stinging stopped. I let out a small sigh of relief and saw the doctor's lips turn upwards into a smile. When he finished and assured me I was able to travel I spoke up.

"Thank you Doctor," I said gratefully. He smiled again and said "Any time you need it" I noticed that when he smiled his eyes sparkled.

"Yes thank you doctor for coming all this way-," Skulduggery said, standing up to shake his hand.

"Professor," Grouse said sternly glaring at Skulduggery's hand.

"Excuse me?"

"I am a newly qualified Professor, Mr Pleasant-"

"Captain," Skulduggery said taking his turn to interrupt and correct the younger man. "Captain Pleasant of ranger squad 131, perhaps you've heard of me,"

I rolled my eyes at his oversized ego and Grouse looked him up and down. "I have," he said. "I have heard a lot about you and your _skills, _but this is the first time I have observed the result of said skills." Grouse said gruffly, indicating to me lying on the bed. "And I will not say that it has been a pleasure,"

Then he just left, slamming the door behind him. The silence that followed was unbearable. The nurse had been left in the room, she looked at the door and then back to me. Her brown eyes darted to where Skulduggery stood with his hand still outstretched. He dropped his hand and straightened his jacket. The awkwardness of the situation grew. Skulduggery tilted his head to the side and looked at the dark haired nurse expectantly. I coughed once to break the silence. This made the nurse jump as if she had forgotten I was there.

"Um, yes," She said as she began to search through a stack of papers she held in her hands. "You will need to walk with a crutch for a little bit. Your left leg is week from the loss of blood." The nurse clicked her fingers and a wooden crutch appeared at her side. She picked it up and went to hand it to me, unfortunately my good hand was wrapped up in the blankets and it took me a while to untangle it. She saw that I was having trouble so she switched to give the crutch to Skulduggery. Just as he was about to take it I freed my hand and held it out. Seeing my hand the nurse swung the crutch around to give it to me, but as she did this she hit Skulduggery in the head with the butt of the crutch.

The nurse froze and so did Skulduggery. My shoulders shook as I struggled to keep down my laughter. Skulduggery glared at the nurse, silently fuming with anger. I snorted and a chuckle escaped my lips. Skulduggery's glare shifted to me. The nurse's face reddened, she propped the crutch up against the bed and ran out of the room with her head down.

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**Hello,**

**Is everyone having a good Summer? :)**

**I do apolygise for the uneventfulness of this chapter so to make up for it the next chapter will have a BIG twist :} Of course not as big as the Death Bringer twist . . . my brain is sadly not that amazing. Thanks for reading, please review**

**:D**


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